Fake Plants and Pots

rebeccalynn1208

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Alright kinda two different questions here. I've heard of people putting fake plants in their enclosure to add to hiding. Is this safe? Won't the tortoises try to eat it?
Also, when I put a live plant in the tortoise table, can I just put the whole pot down and slightly burry it or will the torts try and eat the pot?
 

Yvonne G

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I scrape the substrate away until the floor is showing, then sit the pot on the floor, then push the substrate back all around the pot. Tortoises use the plants to sit under and pay no attention to the pot.
 

rebeccalynn1208

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I scrape the substrate away until the floor is showing, then sit the pot on the floor, then push the substrate back all around the pot. Tortoises use the plants to sit under and pay no attention to the pot.
What about fake plants?
 

Jodie

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A lot of people use fake plants. Most torts will taste i and then leave it a lone. Most of my enclosures I have potted plants in with no problems. I also have planted grass directly in the substrate. I have one leopard though that destroys everything I put in. He knocks pots over and walks everywhere so much that nothing can grow.
 

Levi the Leopard

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I used fake plants for 2 years with 17different leopards (over the course of that time) and never had a problem with any of them trying to eat fake plants.

Fake plants look real to us but I don't think it looks real to them. I once read a study that explained how plants reflect UV making them look different to a tortoise. A fake plant wouldn't reflect in the same way... I've looked for that info over and over but have yet to re find it. The day I do....I'll bookmark it!
 

rebeccalynn1208

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I used fake plants for 2 years with 17different leopards (over the course of that time) and never had a problem with any of them trying to eat fake plants.

Fake plants look real to us but I don't think it looks real to them. I once read a study that explained how plants reflect UV making them look different to a tortoise. A fake plant wouldn't reflect in the same way... I've looked for that info over and over but have yet to re find it. The day I do....I'll bookmark it!
That's super cool!!! Thanks :D I just wanted to get some to make the habitat more realistic so they feel like they're still in the wild. That's the goal after all^.^
 
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